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JUDY WOODRUFF: We turn back 
to the Russia investigations 
and the issue at their core:

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that government's meddling 
in the 2016 U.S. election.

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How Russian officials made 
it happen is the focus of at 
least three official probes in

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Washington, but information 
about what they did and didn't 
do to our voting process and

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to our confidence in 
our election system has 
come in fits and starts.

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A new cover story for "TIME" 
magazine takes a deep dive into 
what we know now, connecting

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the dots of how, why 
and how far they went.

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It's titled "Inside the 
Secret Plan to Stop Vladimir 
Putin's U.S. Election Plot."

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And the author, "TIME" 
magazine's Massimo Calabresi, 
is here with me now.

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Welcome to the program, Massimo.

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So, what you have reported in 
this issue of "TIME" is what 
we don't know before, how far

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the federal government had 
gone last year to prevent 
damage by the Russians.

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MASSIMO CALABRESI, "TIME": 
In the days leading up 
to the election, the top 
federal cyber-security

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officials realized that, 
for the efforts they 
had taken throughout 
the election, our voting

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system was still vulnerable, not 
to interference with the actual 
vote count, but to undermining

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the credibility of the vote, 
the integrity of the vote, 
which is, of course, the purpose

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of voting to begin with, 
to reach a consensus 
that the democratic 
will of the people has

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been expressed.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: So, what 
was it that the government 
was prepared to do?

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MASSIMO CALABRESI: Well, they 
enumerated in this 15-page 
plan some extraordinary steps.

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They stipulated at the beginning 
that, under most circumstances, 
the federal government

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would defer to the states 
in a cyber-incident, 
but in a particularly 
bad one, for example,

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one that halted voting at a 
voting place, they would go 
so far as to send armed law

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enforcement, federal 
law enforcement agents 
to polling places.

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They were prepared to 
deploy active and reserve 
military forces in case 
of a massive incident.

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And they also prepared for 
counterpropaganda efforts in the 
wake of the vote, should false

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information be spread to try 
and undermine its credibility.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And what had they 
seen that caused them to go to 
this length before election?

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MASSIMO CALABRESI: So, 
initially, they saw 
one or two states back 
in the summer where

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the Russians had broken 
into the voter registration 
rolls and meddled around.

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But the more they looked, 
the more they found other 
states had been compromised.

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And they didn't quite know 
what the Russians were doing.

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Initially, they thought they 
might be able to swing the 
vote, but they soon concluded

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that actual meddling with 
the vote count wasn't 
going to be possible.

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But they decided that what 
the Russians could do was take 
certain actions that would call

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into question whether it 
had been free and fair, like 
interfering with the reporting

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systems on election 
night, meddling with 
voter rolls throughout 
the country in ways that

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would cause long lines 
or, in swing states, might 
cause an extraordinary 
number of provisional

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ballots to be cast.

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(CROSSTALK)

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Excuse me, 
but there were instances 
where -- you have 
reported, because you have

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written a number of 
stories about this, were in 
California, for example.

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There was an instance where a 
number of people reported they 
had trouble voting because of

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how their identity had been 
changed in voter registration.

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MASSIMO CALABRESI: 
That's absolutely right.

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On primary day in California 
in June 2016, the local DA 
started getting a bench of calls

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from voters saying that they 
were not being allowed to vote 
because their voter registration

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information had been changed 
in the statewide voter 
registration database.

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The hackers remain unknown in 
that case because the state of 
California doesn't record the

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I.P. addresses of computers 
that make changes.

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But, looking back, the federal 
officials who were in charge 
of defending the vote, in the

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context of the other Russian 
intrusions, concluded 
that this might have 
been a test run by the

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Russians to show what kind 
of disruption they could 
cause on Election Day.

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And indeed, in this county 
in California, the voters 
became quite agitated, and the

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mystery actually fed the doubt.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, I want 
to press you on this, because 
you're saying that the Russians

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were not able -- they weren't 
worried that the Russians were 
going to be able to change

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the final vote count.

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MASSIMO CALABRESI: That's right.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: But were able 
to get in, in a remarkable 
way, into state voter files,

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into election systems.

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MASSIMO CALABRESI: And this is 
what's so important, because the 
Russians had over time become

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bolder and bolder about their 
intrusions, and had not tried 
to hide the fact that they

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were breaking into systems.

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The Russians are very 
skilled cyber-actors, among 
the best in the world.

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So the fact they were remaining 
in the open was a clue to the 
larger purpose of the operation.

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And it's crucial to 
keep this in mind.

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The first and primary goal of 
the Russian operation against 
the election was to undermine

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American faith in the 
democratic process, the 
first and abiding goal.

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Every secondary goal that came 
had to first fulfill undermining 
our faith in the democratic

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process.

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And so what the cyber-security 
officials at the White House 
and across government at the

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FBI and intelligence community 
concluded was that these 
intrusions were less about the

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specific effect that they 
could have than they were on 
undermining the faith of the

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Americans in 
elections generally.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And it appears 
that they succeeded, at 
least in part, in doing that.

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And you report that there is 
every reason to think that 
they may still be engaged in

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this.

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We have an election, governors 
election coming up, this year.

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MASSIMO CALABRESI: That's right.

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That's right.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: All 
of our congressional 
elections next year.

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MASSIMO CALABRESI: That's right.

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That's right.

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The crucial thing here is, 
this is an attack by Russia on 
America, not on a particular

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candidate or on a 
particular party.

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Their interests are in weakening 
the U.S. at home and abroad.

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And that's why it's so important 
now that we take steps to 
try and secure our election,

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so that this kind of exercise, 
propaganda, influence operation 
designed to undermine

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our faith in the democratic 
process here can't 
succeed in the future.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And how high 
up in the Russian government 
does the direction of this go?

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We know that at one point 
President Obama was reportedly 
telling Vladimir Putin, cut

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it out.

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MASSIMO CALABRESI: 
Well, that's right.

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Obama famously confronted him 
in that photograph of the two 
staring at each other icily in

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China at a meeting and 
told him to cut it out.

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The intelligence community 
reported publicly in 
their assessment in 
January that the operation

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had been approved at 
the highest level.

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And my sources tell 
me that means Putin.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, it doesn't 
get any higher than that.

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MASSIMO CALABRESI: That's right.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And 
it's a remarkable 
collection of stories.

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Congratulations on 
all this reporting.

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And I know you're 
continuing to work on it.

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MASSIMO CALABRESI: Thank you.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Massimo Calabresi 
with "TIME," thank you.

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MASSIMO CALABRESI: 
Thanks for having me.